A/N: Thank you to all my reviewers!! I can't name ya'll personally yet but
I promise I'll dedicate a chapter to all of you when I have time! Still
have no name for that stupid practice hall!! Blinks As of now I think I
shall stick to "the Practice Hall" Rarrrrrg!!!! Oh, this chapter will be
pretty dramatic. Matt tells his life story. Watch out. Hehehe, um oh yeah,
Sam's true identity shall be revealed! Mwahahahahahahahaha!!!!
Anyway, I'm done babbling so......
Troubles
"Wake Up...."
"Wake Up!!!!!"
"Wake the Hell up!!!!!"
"Huh? Wha?"
Katie opened her mouth to scream but Matt covered her mouth before she let out a scream.
"Sssshhh, you'll wake up Zack and Freddy."
"Matt? How can I wake them up? They're not even in this room?"
"Wanna bet?"
Sure enough they were there. Freddy was on the floor. She looked around, she wasn't in the room she fell asleep in the night before.
"How did I get here?"
"Freddy carried you to his room. He didn't seem to trust me. I can't blame him, you're beautiful."
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
"Why are you here? Its 4:00 in the morning."
"I wanted you to see something."
"What? The sunrise?"
"No. Almost everyone has seen that at least once."
"Yeah. Well? What do you want to show me."
"Come with me."
"No. Tell meeeeeee!"
Matt had grabbed her wrist before she could protest. He practically dragged her to the porch.
"Stop struggling!"
"Why?"
"Coz I stopped dragging you already. I stopped. We're here."
"Oh. Sorry."
"I forgive you."
"What do you want to show me."
"Look outside."
Once Katie looked outside she gasped and gaped at the beauty before her. The sky was illuminated (A/N: Naks!) by the light of the stars. Yet nothing compared to the light of the moon. It was silvery blue with a pale mix of gold which was getting stronger.
Katie never bothered to look outside the hall before. Only now did she realize that below her (remember she's on a porch!) was a garden of sampaguitas (Filipino flower), jasmines, orchids, tiger lilies and whole lot more. The light shone on a tall weeping willow tree where there was a small gazebo. There were fireflies flying around the tree too.
"The gold light over there is caused by the sun's light. The silvery blue light will soon be gone completely but as for now its still there."
"Yeah...who showed you all this?"
"The only girl I ever loved, Alanna Drew Vaughn. Lanny or A.D. to her closest friends"
"Well...where is she?"
"She's dead. She was murdered by her father. Sonovabitch"
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"No problem."
Silence. Its a very agonizing silence.
"What was she like."
"Well, she was funny. She was spunky but classy at the same time. She had an awesome talent for playing the electric guitar. No offense, but honestly she was a whole damn lot better than Zack.
What else? Well, she sang awfully well too. Her voice range was so high you would have thought you have heard an angel or Marriah Carrey. Hehe.
She loved the water and the sky. She wrote poetry and stories. Writing was her passion. Um, well in a sense she had an attitude like yours. You remind me of her."
"Well, then I must bring back so many painful memories."
"No, its just as if I'm talking to her again."
"Were you her boyfriend."
"Sort of."
"I don't get it..."
Agonizing silence.
"Well, she was my best friend since we were in babies at the hospital coz her dad and my mom were best friends too. My godfather was her dad and I treated him like my second dad. Vice versa goes for her. Then in the third grade she had a crush on this guy. Well, it was more of an infatuation. It was her first crush.
Anyway, we were kids and she told me that one day she told me that she wanted to kiss that guy. Of course, since we were kids I was disgusted at the fact that she would want to kiss anybody but as her best friend I listened. She told me that she had watched the movie 'My Girl' with her friend Ozzie and she said that if she ever wanted to kiss the guy-Joey, yeah that was his name-she wanted to practice on me.
I didn't like the sound of this idea but I complied anyway. So, we kissed. It was pretty innocent. Nothing really changed yet, until the fifth grade. She was still my best friend and one of the most wanted girls on campus. One day we were talking about love while walking home. When suddenly she says 'Christopher Matthew Finn, I like you. I like you more than I've ever like anyone in my life.' I was stunned especially since we were simply fifth graders. I told her I'll think about it and I did. I thought for a whole year. I did like her too. I really truly did.
It was summer of the sixth grade. I asked if I could court her. She was uneasy and she said no. It was a flat out no and I was depressed. We barely talked and it was so hard because I saw her everyday. Our lockers were beside each other as were our tables. Even in science, she was my lab partner. One day I sent her a letter."
"What did it say?"
"Sometimes I Get So Happy Being With You
I Just Want To Hug You
But Then I Get Scared
Because You Might Hug Me Back
Then It Gets So Damn Hard When You Already Decide...
That Its Time To Let Go..."
"Wow. What happened?"
"We avoided each other like before. Then I found a note in my locker."
"What did it say?"
"One Night I Dreamt I was a Vampire
I Was Supposed to Bite You
But I Couldn't
Instead I Faced the Sun and Let Myself Die
I Did that for One Simple Reason
I Love You Too Much To Hurt You"
"Oh...then what."
"Nothing much until the seventh grade."
"Well?"
"She said that she still loved me. Well, we became a couple. Sort of like you and Freddy. One night, she ran to my house. She was crying. She saw her dad kill her mom and she was next. I couldn't believe that my Uncle Stan could do such a thing. He was always so warm and friendly. I found out that the reason was because was that Uncle Stan was having an affair with another woman, who was this erotic dancer at a night club. Ugh.
So then she bid me good bye and ran away to tell the police. She promised she'd come back. But she never did. Unfortunately her dad caught up with her while she was on her way to her Aunt Lydia's. Her body was found on the highway."
"Oh...well. You'll find someone else."
"I think I have already but she doesn't know."
"Tell her, she's bound to be drawn to you."
Matt stared hard and long at Katie.
"Its not that easy."
"I guess not."
"You should be back in your room now."
"Yeah."
So the two parted ways. As Katie was going down the stairs her mind was confused. Why in the world had Matt shared this with her?
Meanwhile...
"Zack!"
"Get someone else to do it mom...zzzz"
'sigh, please god not again'
"Zack!"
"zzzzz..."
"ZACK!!!!! ZACK TAYLOR MOONEYHAM WAKE UP!!!!!"
"What?!"
"Where's Katie?"
"Isn't she in her room? Remember, she didn't want to spend the night with us 'hormonal teenagers'?"
'I forgot, he was asleep when I carried her here'
"I checked..."
"So why are you asking me?"
"You might know. I hear you sleepwalk. "
"I do not."
"Yeah? Explain the incident when..."
"Do not bring that up! Ever! Do you hear me man?"
"Dude, chill!"
'Hehehehehehe, revenge!'
"Yeah whatever. Anyway, I haven't seen her. Now while I'm still delirious let me sleep before it wears off or I'll be cranky until the afternoon."
"Sure. I'll look myself."
'I know how he is when he's cranky. Don't want to experience that ever again.'
So Freddy walks out of the room when he hears footsteps coming from the stairway.
"Katie? Is that you?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Oh, well when you weren't in the room I got pretty worried."
"Awww, that's so sweet."
"So, why did you go up anyway?"
"Um..."
Katie couldn't tell Freddy she was up with Matt. Freddy would get the wrong impression. After all, his favorite exercise was jumping to conclusions.
"I was up early and I decided to watch the sunrise and the moon sink into the clouds."
"Oooh, poetic."
'Hah! Me poetic?'
"Yeah right."
"Well, what do you want to do today?"
"Be with you."
"What else?"
smirk
"I dunno..."
"So...its now almost five thirty in the morning."
"Yeah. Hey, I know! Put on your robe or some casual clothes. I want to show you something."
"If you haven't noticed, I am in casual clothes. I fell asleep in shorts."
"Good. Come with me."
"What?"
Katie took Freddy's hand and led him to the door which led to the garden. It was fenced and locked up. This annoyed and intrigued Katie. Who in the world could have tended to this garden.
'A hell lot of people'
"Crud. What's this? A secret garden thingy cliché?"
"Freddy relax. Maybe we can just push it open. I mean sometimes its like that. Don't you watch the movies?"
"Good example, the movies. It really teaches me stuff like karate chopping, gun slinging, how to boogie down, and that looney tons can enter the real world. Good example. Hahaha."
'Sometimes I can't understand his humor'
"Shut up. Watch."
Katie pushed the door. Interestingly enough, it opened.
"Wow, this place looks like some ancient Greek-slash-Roman temple ruin thingy."
"Interesting."
"Hey look there's a fountain here. I never noticed it upstairs. I wonder who tends to this place?"
"Tomika? I dunno."
"Yeah. Hey, want to go to the gazebo."
"Sure."
Once they were there...
"So Katie..."
"Hmmm?"
"How'd you know Sam?"
"You wouldn't want to know."
"The hell I would. I wouldn't ask if I didn't want to know right?"
"Yeah. I guess not. Well, I suppose I should've told you before."
"Well, now's still a good time."
"Okay when I was born mom had two kids. Not by the same dad. Me and Sam. Sam's older than me. Well, my dad didn't exactly want me, and mom died due to a freak accident with a rope, tire and knife. So he gave me over to Sam's dad. Sam was three and I was one.
Sam's dad treated me like his daughter. Sam loved me like his real sis too. One day Sam's dad met this girl and they got married. They are the people you think are my real parents.
We had a decent, happy life till I was like twelve. Sam was fourteen. He got sick of 'mom and dad' and ran away. We kept in touch. Quite a lot but that was a total secret."
"How come I never saw him when we were kids."
"When you were there he never was and besides he's a low profile kinda guy. But he's one of the elite crew. Strange right?"
"Yeah, I suppose."
"Well, I'm gonna lie down in the grass and throw myself into the fountain."
"Really?"
"Of course not. I'm going inside now."
"Yeah me too."
"Well?"
'What a weird life. Oh well.'
"Katie! Wait up!"
L8er That Dai...
"People! It has come to my attention that we haven't practiced since this rehearsal hall has become ours so lets begin and we party later! Sound good?"
"YeaH!"
"So, game, lets begin."
"Waaaaait!!!!!"
"Yeah Freddy?"
"Who gave you, Tomika, the authority to tell us what to do?"
"Summer and Dewey...okay maybe just Dewey but Summer said that she'd like to see Katie handle things."
"I couldn't do that...I suck at leadership."
"So...any other objections?"
"Nu-uh."
"Nope."
"Nada."
"Okay, then lets jam!"
"Yeah!"
"Guys wait Dewey and Summer told me that they wanted Matt to go on drums for the first three songs for today."
"Why?"
"He needs the practice. Need proof?"
"Proof would be good."
"Summer's outline, printed."
After the band reviewed what (according to Summer) the band had to cover they approved. Freddy, somewhat reluctantly.
After the jamming...
"So Katie..."
"Yeah Matt?"
"Are you free today?"
"I think so-
cellphone rings
hold on"
"Hey Sum, what's up...you're coming back tomorrow instead of next Saturday...oh that's great...no way...shut up, we got the gig...that rocks...so we are opening with Metallica...omigod...and Dewey convinced them to treat us all to dinner...omigod...okay see ya soon...buh-bye!"
"Well?"
"I'm so, so sorry I have to go but, but..."
"Its okay. Have fun with your friends."
"Thanks! You're the best!"
Katie impulsively hugged Matt who was obviously surprised but happy...
TBC.,.
Anyway, I'm done babbling so......
Troubles
"Wake Up...."
"Wake Up!!!!!"
"Wake the Hell up!!!!!"
"Huh? Wha?"
Katie opened her mouth to scream but Matt covered her mouth before she let out a scream.
"Sssshhh, you'll wake up Zack and Freddy."
"Matt? How can I wake them up? They're not even in this room?"
"Wanna bet?"
Sure enough they were there. Freddy was on the floor. She looked around, she wasn't in the room she fell asleep in the night before.
"How did I get here?"
"Freddy carried you to his room. He didn't seem to trust me. I can't blame him, you're beautiful."
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
"Why are you here? Its 4:00 in the morning."
"I wanted you to see something."
"What? The sunrise?"
"No. Almost everyone has seen that at least once."
"Yeah. Well? What do you want to show me."
"Come with me."
"No. Tell meeeeeee!"
Matt had grabbed her wrist before she could protest. He practically dragged her to the porch.
"Stop struggling!"
"Why?"
"Coz I stopped dragging you already. I stopped. We're here."
"Oh. Sorry."
"I forgive you."
"What do you want to show me."
"Look outside."
Once Katie looked outside she gasped and gaped at the beauty before her. The sky was illuminated (A/N: Naks!) by the light of the stars. Yet nothing compared to the light of the moon. It was silvery blue with a pale mix of gold which was getting stronger.
Katie never bothered to look outside the hall before. Only now did she realize that below her (remember she's on a porch!) was a garden of sampaguitas (Filipino flower), jasmines, orchids, tiger lilies and whole lot more. The light shone on a tall weeping willow tree where there was a small gazebo. There were fireflies flying around the tree too.
"The gold light over there is caused by the sun's light. The silvery blue light will soon be gone completely but as for now its still there."
"Yeah...who showed you all this?"
"The only girl I ever loved, Alanna Drew Vaughn. Lanny or A.D. to her closest friends"
"Well...where is she?"
"She's dead. She was murdered by her father. Sonovabitch"
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"No problem."
Silence. Its a very agonizing silence.
"What was she like."
"Well, she was funny. She was spunky but classy at the same time. She had an awesome talent for playing the electric guitar. No offense, but honestly she was a whole damn lot better than Zack.
What else? Well, she sang awfully well too. Her voice range was so high you would have thought you have heard an angel or Marriah Carrey. Hehe.
She loved the water and the sky. She wrote poetry and stories. Writing was her passion. Um, well in a sense she had an attitude like yours. You remind me of her."
"Well, then I must bring back so many painful memories."
"No, its just as if I'm talking to her again."
"Were you her boyfriend."
"Sort of."
"I don't get it..."
Agonizing silence.
"Well, she was my best friend since we were in babies at the hospital coz her dad and my mom were best friends too. My godfather was her dad and I treated him like my second dad. Vice versa goes for her. Then in the third grade she had a crush on this guy. Well, it was more of an infatuation. It was her first crush.
Anyway, we were kids and she told me that one day she told me that she wanted to kiss that guy. Of course, since we were kids I was disgusted at the fact that she would want to kiss anybody but as her best friend I listened. She told me that she had watched the movie 'My Girl' with her friend Ozzie and she said that if she ever wanted to kiss the guy-Joey, yeah that was his name-she wanted to practice on me.
I didn't like the sound of this idea but I complied anyway. So, we kissed. It was pretty innocent. Nothing really changed yet, until the fifth grade. She was still my best friend and one of the most wanted girls on campus. One day we were talking about love while walking home. When suddenly she says 'Christopher Matthew Finn, I like you. I like you more than I've ever like anyone in my life.' I was stunned especially since we were simply fifth graders. I told her I'll think about it and I did. I thought for a whole year. I did like her too. I really truly did.
It was summer of the sixth grade. I asked if I could court her. She was uneasy and she said no. It was a flat out no and I was depressed. We barely talked and it was so hard because I saw her everyday. Our lockers were beside each other as were our tables. Even in science, she was my lab partner. One day I sent her a letter."
"What did it say?"
"Sometimes I Get So Happy Being With You
I Just Want To Hug You
But Then I Get Scared
Because You Might Hug Me Back
Then It Gets So Damn Hard When You Already Decide...
That Its Time To Let Go..."
"Wow. What happened?"
"We avoided each other like before. Then I found a note in my locker."
"What did it say?"
"One Night I Dreamt I was a Vampire
I Was Supposed to Bite You
But I Couldn't
Instead I Faced the Sun and Let Myself Die
I Did that for One Simple Reason
I Love You Too Much To Hurt You"
"Oh...then what."
"Nothing much until the seventh grade."
"Well?"
"She said that she still loved me. Well, we became a couple. Sort of like you and Freddy. One night, she ran to my house. She was crying. She saw her dad kill her mom and she was next. I couldn't believe that my Uncle Stan could do such a thing. He was always so warm and friendly. I found out that the reason was because was that Uncle Stan was having an affair with another woman, who was this erotic dancer at a night club. Ugh.
So then she bid me good bye and ran away to tell the police. She promised she'd come back. But she never did. Unfortunately her dad caught up with her while she was on her way to her Aunt Lydia's. Her body was found on the highway."
"Oh...well. You'll find someone else."
"I think I have already but she doesn't know."
"Tell her, she's bound to be drawn to you."
Matt stared hard and long at Katie.
"Its not that easy."
"I guess not."
"You should be back in your room now."
"Yeah."
So the two parted ways. As Katie was going down the stairs her mind was confused. Why in the world had Matt shared this with her?
Meanwhile...
"Zack!"
"Get someone else to do it mom...zzzz"
'sigh, please god not again'
"Zack!"
"zzzzz..."
"ZACK!!!!! ZACK TAYLOR MOONEYHAM WAKE UP!!!!!"
"What?!"
"Where's Katie?"
"Isn't she in her room? Remember, she didn't want to spend the night with us 'hormonal teenagers'?"
'I forgot, he was asleep when I carried her here'
"I checked..."
"So why are you asking me?"
"You might know. I hear you sleepwalk. "
"I do not."
"Yeah? Explain the incident when..."
"Do not bring that up! Ever! Do you hear me man?"
"Dude, chill!"
'Hehehehehehe, revenge!'
"Yeah whatever. Anyway, I haven't seen her. Now while I'm still delirious let me sleep before it wears off or I'll be cranky until the afternoon."
"Sure. I'll look myself."
'I know how he is when he's cranky. Don't want to experience that ever again.'
So Freddy walks out of the room when he hears footsteps coming from the stairway.
"Katie? Is that you?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Oh, well when you weren't in the room I got pretty worried."
"Awww, that's so sweet."
"So, why did you go up anyway?"
"Um..."
Katie couldn't tell Freddy she was up with Matt. Freddy would get the wrong impression. After all, his favorite exercise was jumping to conclusions.
"I was up early and I decided to watch the sunrise and the moon sink into the clouds."
"Oooh, poetic."
'Hah! Me poetic?'
"Yeah right."
"Well, what do you want to do today?"
"Be with you."
"What else?"
smirk
"I dunno..."
"So...its now almost five thirty in the morning."
"Yeah. Hey, I know! Put on your robe or some casual clothes. I want to show you something."
"If you haven't noticed, I am in casual clothes. I fell asleep in shorts."
"Good. Come with me."
"What?"
Katie took Freddy's hand and led him to the door which led to the garden. It was fenced and locked up. This annoyed and intrigued Katie. Who in the world could have tended to this garden.
'A hell lot of people'
"Crud. What's this? A secret garden thingy cliché?"
"Freddy relax. Maybe we can just push it open. I mean sometimes its like that. Don't you watch the movies?"
"Good example, the movies. It really teaches me stuff like karate chopping, gun slinging, how to boogie down, and that looney tons can enter the real world. Good example. Hahaha."
'Sometimes I can't understand his humor'
"Shut up. Watch."
Katie pushed the door. Interestingly enough, it opened.
"Wow, this place looks like some ancient Greek-slash-Roman temple ruin thingy."
"Interesting."
"Hey look there's a fountain here. I never noticed it upstairs. I wonder who tends to this place?"
"Tomika? I dunno."
"Yeah. Hey, want to go to the gazebo."
"Sure."
Once they were there...
"So Katie..."
"Hmmm?"
"How'd you know Sam?"
"You wouldn't want to know."
"The hell I would. I wouldn't ask if I didn't want to know right?"
"Yeah. I guess not. Well, I suppose I should've told you before."
"Well, now's still a good time."
"Okay when I was born mom had two kids. Not by the same dad. Me and Sam. Sam's older than me. Well, my dad didn't exactly want me, and mom died due to a freak accident with a rope, tire and knife. So he gave me over to Sam's dad. Sam was three and I was one.
Sam's dad treated me like his daughter. Sam loved me like his real sis too. One day Sam's dad met this girl and they got married. They are the people you think are my real parents.
We had a decent, happy life till I was like twelve. Sam was fourteen. He got sick of 'mom and dad' and ran away. We kept in touch. Quite a lot but that was a total secret."
"How come I never saw him when we were kids."
"When you were there he never was and besides he's a low profile kinda guy. But he's one of the elite crew. Strange right?"
"Yeah, I suppose."
"Well, I'm gonna lie down in the grass and throw myself into the fountain."
"Really?"
"Of course not. I'm going inside now."
"Yeah me too."
"Well?"
'What a weird life. Oh well.'
"Katie! Wait up!"
L8er That Dai...
"People! It has come to my attention that we haven't practiced since this rehearsal hall has become ours so lets begin and we party later! Sound good?"
"YeaH!"
"So, game, lets begin."
"Waaaaait!!!!!"
"Yeah Freddy?"
"Who gave you, Tomika, the authority to tell us what to do?"
"Summer and Dewey...okay maybe just Dewey but Summer said that she'd like to see Katie handle things."
"I couldn't do that...I suck at leadership."
"So...any other objections?"
"Nu-uh."
"Nope."
"Nada."
"Okay, then lets jam!"
"Yeah!"
"Guys wait Dewey and Summer told me that they wanted Matt to go on drums for the first three songs for today."
"Why?"
"He needs the practice. Need proof?"
"Proof would be good."
"Summer's outline, printed."
After the band reviewed what (according to Summer) the band had to cover they approved. Freddy, somewhat reluctantly.
After the jamming...
"So Katie..."
"Yeah Matt?"
"Are you free today?"
"I think so-
cellphone rings
hold on"
"Hey Sum, what's up...you're coming back tomorrow instead of next Saturday...oh that's great...no way...shut up, we got the gig...that rocks...so we are opening with Metallica...omigod...and Dewey convinced them to treat us all to dinner...omigod...okay see ya soon...buh-bye!"
"Well?"
"I'm so, so sorry I have to go but, but..."
"Its okay. Have fun with your friends."
"Thanks! You're the best!"
Katie impulsively hugged Matt who was obviously surprised but happy...
TBC.,.